


i will find any way to your wild heart

by TagzHumanFire



Category: Love Simon (2018), Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Gay, M/M, MMORPGs, RPGs, Secret Identity, Video & Computer Games, Virtual Reality, bram is a paladin, he's just really gay man, i'm still writing this!!, it's just a love simon mmorpg au, kind of an alternate universe but not really? there are still scenes offline, leah is an druid/apothecary, more characters to be added as they're introduced, simon is a bartender at a virtual inn, simon is a rogue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-19 02:53:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14227524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TagzHumanFire/pseuds/TagzHumanFire
Summary: In the online world ofCreekwood, Simon Spier carries out his days in striking mediocrity: serving his friends as a bartender at a virtual inn and enjoying the idyllic life of an escapist world. One day, a stranger in paladin’s armor bursts into the inn, badly hurt, and falls under Simon’s care. The two slowly grow close—in the overworld, however, neither knows the other’s true identity, despite the fact that they are both slowly falling for each other online.Title is from Wild Heart by Bleachers off of the Love, Simon soundtrack, which I'd highly highly recommend.





	1. Giant Slimes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a Love, Simon kinda-au that I had to write because the idea kept nagging at me and I loved the movie so much and damn what a time we live in.
> 
> Don't hesitate to leave a comment if you enjoyed! Those warm my heart, man. This is my first fanwork.
> 
> (Creekwood is the name of the video game)

Rushing water. Puzzle pieces falling into place. The skittering of a thousand cicadas. A fresh start that feels like ice running down my spine to the tips of my fingers, coursing through my veins. My body feels weightless for a split second, and then a world materializes around me all at once and gravity comes back to me like a punch to the gut, and then there I am. _Creekwood._

“Simon! Dude, another round over here!”

 _Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale._ I crack open my eyes, shake my head quickly from side to side, and the inn slowly comes into focus.

“Si, took you long enough! We’re starving over here.”

I flex my arms and God, this world feels so good. This world is mine. A place where I can escape and be free…

A place where I’m late to work again, and where I bartend at a busy inn surrounded by tenants all currently vying for my attention.

“Welcome back, man.” I feel a thump to my back—it’s got that odd virtually synthetic feel to it, but I get the gesture all the same—and turn to see Lyle, fond smirk on his face as he watches me try to get re-acclimated to the slight off-ness of logging on.

Some things they don’t tell you about spending half your life in a virtual reality world: you never get used to the logging on. The air always has a synthetic slant to it, and if you stretch out your hand and watch yourself wiggle your fingers you’ll get this terrible vertigo feeling. So, it’s not perfect. But here, surrounded by the warmth of the inn, the liveliness of being surrounded by all of my friends with the energy of freedom and new beginnings in the air, it feels pretty damn close.

“Still getting your land legs back?” I hear a familiar voice smirk from my right. I spin to face it, maybe a little too quickly, and almost fall into Leah.

“Si, I love you, but you’ve really gotta work on the whole balance thing.” She says. “Plus, Abby and Nick just got here and I think if they wait a second longer for a drink they’re actually going to start a bar fight.” She nods over to a table where Abby, Nick, and Garrett all raise their glasses at me.

“Yeah, well, we don’t want that,” I manage to get out right as Lyle tosses me a rag and notepad and nods over to the myriad of tables and customers that are calling for refills and checks.

“Get to work,” he says.

And I do. I’m not half bad at my job, either. You know, you’d think that after being a busy high school senior for eight hours a day the last thing that I’d want to do is get back to work in a video game of all places. To be honest, I don’t completely get why I like it either. Something’s just different about _Creekwood_. Nothing feels like work. It’s good that way. Fill a mug here. Grab a tip there. It’s safe and sound, and here is a place where I get to live in a world with no strings attached.

Lyle’s inn is something of a touchstone for the local area in _Creekwood_. He was one of the first on the whole virtual reality hype, and his inn was the only one in the area for the first months after _Creekwood_ ’s launch, and it’s stayed that way for the most part. There’s always a fire in the hearth, even when it’s day outside, though the place is packed enough that I wonder sometimes if the place could be warmed with body heat alone. It’s bustling and loud, but the constant rumble of energy is something is something that’s become one of my favorite parts of the virtual reality.

Elves, humans, dwarfs, gnomes, orcs, in every class from druids to paladins to rogues. There’s a guild meeting between some high school jock warrior types in the far corner, and over at the other end of the inn a group of elven women scantily-clad in silk and linen are fanning their faces and passing around a goblet full of some purplish liquid that looks like it took either a lot of money or connections with a very high level brewer to acquire. One of the women belches, _loud_ , and I glance over to a table towards the center of the room where my friends are sitting. Garrett raises his eyebrows in acknowledgment, and Nick throws his head back and laughs. It takes all kinds, I guess. Someone’s got to feed them.

With so many tenants all the time, I think there might be business competition if Lyle wasn’t so damn likable. _Looks sharp enough to cut steel and a charm to match_ , or at least that’s what Abby always says. I’d make a move if, a) he didn’t have a girlfriend already and b) I had to capability of… making a move. Ha, ha. Sarcasm noted. Leah’d like that one.

The virtual world is attached geographically to the real one, so I know a surprising amount of the tenants that log on from the overworld, which is both a boon and a bane sometimes. Something about zip codes and satellite systems. You’d think creeps would use the whole thing to stalk people or something, but for the most part your identity is concealed unless you disclose it to someone. Virtual face reconstruction, voice manips, the whole shebang if you’re really that concerned. For the most part, though, I just hang around my friends and people I know from school, so I’ve got that stuff down most of the time.

“Si! Over here! Another round for the table!” One of the warrior jocks in the corner calls, raising his empty glass expectantly. They all voice their agreement, loudly, and bust out in full-bellied laughter.

“Alright, alright,” I call back. I toss my dishrag over my shoulder, wiping my hands on my apron, and loop my finger through the air to summon my UI. The interface swirls into being around me, a series of holographic menu options that circle in my field of vision, all vying for my attention. I can’t help but smile: summoning the UI is one of those things that makes my heart skip a beat every time I see it. Some pleasures of a virtual world never get old.

I click through a couple of tabs in the air with my right hand while grabbing a pitcher from behind the counter with my left. The interface recognizes the location as a vendor and offers me a list of options from the inn’s menu—which ranges from cheap orchard apples if you’re in a rush or tight on cash to complete family-style meals of venison and cranberry sauce—but I use my staff credentials to access the inn’s inventory of foodstuffs and booze.

I blip through the options until the pitcher begins to swirl full of a dark golden, foamy liquid, right up the the brim, and I wave the UI away to zip over and fill the jock guild’s mugs, whistling.

I can’t whistle in the overworld, but here it seems like anything is possible. Also, yeah, I bought a whistle emote on the customization store. Hey, technology is crazy. And amazing.

High school. Endless possibilities. Imagination and living on the cusp of endless adventure. Yeah. That’s _Creekwood_.

Not that I’d ever dip my toes in the whole adventure part. I’ve got everything that I need right here.

——————————

Some time later, I can see the sun setting over the hills outside Lyle’s and the inn’s steady flow of customers begins to taper as people log off, head home, or go out for some late-night questing before calling it a day. It’s

“Hey, good work today,” Lyle says. “I can handle the rest of the stragglers.” He nods to a dwarven couple off to the side and the last of the elven women with covered faces. It seems like all of her companions have all left her, though she’s still got the mysterious liquid goblet that she takes sips from periodically, hiccuping.

“Thanks,” I nod to him, untying my apron and tossing my rag over the sink before giving him a tired wave and heading out.

Outside on under the inn’s awning, the air is cool and still, and the moon is suspended in the sky, which is peppered with what looks like endless stars. There’s not light pollution in the _Creekwood_ countryside, I suppose. Flitsparks (the _fantasy video game_ equivalent of fireflies) laze from grass blade to grass blade, and I can hear a laugh in the distance. The cobblestone path that leads from Lyle’s extends throughout the area, creating a complicated road system of a town that is stuffed on both sides with guild houses, dye shops, reagent stores, merchants, and the local blacksmith. It’s nowhere close to some of the larger cities in _Creekwood_ (you should see the New York tether), but it’s a modest town that probably around five thousand players call home. Which may seem like a lot until you realize how many people you end of recognizing pretty quickly—tIt helps that most of them are from the high school, since the tether overlaps pretty well with the school district.

I run my hands through my hair, enjoying the slight breeze across my face and watching with satisfaction at an honest day’s work as my interface notifies me that my tips and salary have been added to my profile, when I hear a voice call from down the road.

“Si _moooooon!_ ” It’s Abby, who is waving from down the road, in the direction of the town square. Her other arm is hanging over Nick’s shoulder, and Garrett is standing by with his hands stuffed in his pocket, and Leah is waiting patiently beside him.

“We’ve been waiting for you to get off of work!” Abby buzzes while I jog up to the group, “You know, you’re the only high school senior I know who joined _Creekwood_ to just get back to work after school every day.”

“Yeah, Si, there’s a whole virtual world out there, man,” Garret says distractedly, his eyes trained night sky.

I shrug.

“Dude, you gotta come quest with Abby and I some day,” Nick enthuses, like he hasn’t been trying to get me out of the town and into a dungeon somewhere with his guild for the months. “So, like, today there was this _huge_ slime and I mean like _gigantic_ over at Thorndike’s Pass and it took like four mid-level warriors to even pin it down…”

I shift my weight, listening to him, but thankfully Leah gives me a sympathetic look while Nick chatters away before pointedly changing the subject.

“He’s not interested, Nick. And, c’mon, what have I been telling you about sharing all of your gory slime adventure details?” He let out a whine but drops the subject after reminding me that his guild is always looking for new rogues to help with… rogue-ish stuff.

We walk through the town square for the rest of the hour as the server dwindles and merchants start closing up shop, talking and laughing and enjoying ourselves. It’s a Friday night, but even so, we stay up later than we probably should just chatting about everything from college applications to the new smoothie place in town that Garrett absolutely _has_ to try and the new class gear sets rolling out next week.

It’s probably past midnight when we finally say our goodbyes and log off. I tap through the UI and shut my eyes, letting that odd weight of returning to the overworld take over, feeling the world around me fall away.

——————————

I open my eyes and shake off that _Creekwood_ feeling, removing the futuristic, headband-looking tech from my temples, letting out a sigh. I’m sitting at my laptop desk in my dimly-lit bedroom. The house is silent, save for what sounds like violin music playing from Nora’s speakers in the next room as she sleeps.

I reach across the desk to grab my phone and shoot Leah a text message.

_Thanks for today with the whole Nick thing. He means well but_ _… idk sometimes._

Questing’s just not my thing, right now you know? I’m fine at Lyle’s. I’m safe there, and I’ve been saving up for this one _really_ nice new cosmetic gear for weeks. Adventuring is dangerous, not to mention expensive. And spontaneous. Unpredictable.

My phone buzzes and the screen illuminates.

_No problem, Si. I get it. And he does mean well._

_Thanks, Leah._

Leah's a veritable godsend.

_Goodnight, Simon._

_Goodnight._

I fall asleep that night dreaming of fantastic worlds and giant slimes.

——————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls pls pls leave comments if you enjoyed, like I said that stuff makes my day and motivates me to write more. chapter two is coming, stay tuned (((bram will be there!))) but it's like 12:30 and i'm tired as heck


	2. Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bram's here! please enjoy, and don't hesitate to leave a comment if you do (those really make my day). bit of a shorter one today, but it's late and i'm tired dude

I’m standing behind the bar wiping down some glasses when he crashes into the inn, nearly knocking the wooden door clean off of its hinges, and falls to the floor. Everything after that is kind of a blur, really. I can only conjure snippets of it up in my head. Lyle yelling for someone to call the town cleric. Cards flying from a table as it’s dragged over to lift the stranger up onto. Mostly just the paladin’s groans of pain, pain, pain, deep and guttural but somehow at the same time weak and distant.

He’s hurt, badly. Blood pours from a gash through his abdomen that looks otherwordly, something arcane and inhuman, surrounded by searingly dark blisters that branch out to cover his sides and chest, and he whimpers when a group of patrons get together and lift him onto the table.

Everything is chaos, chaos, chaos. I hear yelling outside in the street, yelling here in the inn. Chairs are being moved aside, windows are being shoved open, and people everywhere are crowding to catch a glimpse of the stranger that has caused all of the commotion. I can hear myself yelling, hear orders bark out of my mouth to spread out, not to panic, but on the inside, everything feels silent.

Somewhere in the midst of the action, a cleric comes dashing in, and I can hear the telltale murmuring of incantations and cleansing spells through the crowd, but the desperation that I can sense in his voice and the sweat on his brow has my stomach sinking to the bottom of my feet.

All I can hope is that this paladin will make it. Deaths in _Creekwood_ … they’re no joke.

—————

Some hours later, I’m sitting in an upstairs in a candlelit guest room that Lyle has cleaned out, save for a bed and the rocking chair that I’m sitting in. Most of the action has died down outside, and the cleric has long since left, handing me ( _me_ of all people?) a list of instructions for care to perform hourly for the and some information about the wound. Something about a necrotic blade and a high-level curse. It all crashes together in my head, which has been ringing ever since the action has died down. He said he’d be back the next day, but that the stranger’s condition has mostly stabilized, and then leaves.

Lyle has run to the apothecary to grab some herbs and other salves as per the cleric’s directions, but the inn has closed for the day, so I’ve been left alone with a still very-unconscious paladin. It at least looks like he’ll be okay.

People take death in _Creekwood_ seriously. And I don’t blame them, it’s a big deal. Your account is deleted forever, and your IP gets locked out of creating a new one entirely. You could always try the other slew of virtual sim games out there, but most of them are lackluster _Creekwood_ clones, so you either have to buy a new headset and start anew or give up the game entirely, though if you choose the former, the amount of grinding to regain your status makes it almost impossible. In any case, the death of a character hits almost as hard as in the overworld. It’s almost like living a second life here online, you know? Or losing one. I try not to let my thoughts wander too far.

I’ve decided to call the paladin Blue. Well, I didn’t decide so much as I checked his player profile and scanned it for his screen name just in case anyone comes looking for him. It’s likely not the same as his overworld name, but it’s what I’ve got for the time being.

His armor has been discarded to a corner of the room, and his chest is bare so that his wound can come in contact with the air (though I’m not sure how much good it can do in the unventilated guest room of the inn). I can see his chest rise in fall in labored breath, and the blisters that spread from the slash in his stomach look like they’ve grown angrily darker, if anything, close to black, even in the dim light. I put a hand to his forehead, and the dark skin is hot to the touch. _Hot_ , hot. I draw back my hand, quick, feeling like I’ve violated something.

Everything is silent, save for Blue’s ragged breaths.

—————

“So, he’s just, like, in a coma?” Nick and the gang are sitting with me at one of the inn’s tables. Lyle has since returned from the apothecary, arms laden with healing herbs and other odds and ends, and he and Leah—who has been training hard in her salve preparation talent—have taken over nursing duties for the time being.

“I don’t know, man.” I sigh dejectedly. I suddenly feel extremely exhausted. “All I know is that he’s a paladin, his name is Blue, and that he burst into the inn this morning in bad need of help. And Lyle that is too damn kind to _not_ at least nurse him back to health.”

“Lyle?” It’s Garrett piping up this time. “I heard _you_ sprang into action pretty quick back there, Spier, or at least that’s what all of my guildmates were saying.”

I shrug. In truth, everything kind of moved in a blur after Blue crashed through the door. I didn’t think or anything. I just did.

“Simon the hero, huh?” Nick jokes, but I’m find myself getting oddly annoyed at him saying that. I’m not a hero. I’m not, really. I decide that I hate that word.

—————

“So you’ll need to check in on him at least every couple of hours,” Leah is telling me, handing me a vial of a verdant green paste. She’s called me back up to the Blue’s room, where I have apparently been deemed Blue’s keeper. “A pea-sized dab of this on each of the bigger blisters should have the inflammation down to a manageable level, and help with the pain if—” I cringe “—when, sorry, he wakes up.”

“Leah’s surprisingly good with a mortar and pestle,” Lyle notes from the other side of the room, where a section of the room is covered in newspaper and roots and potion-making odds and ends. Leah has apparently been hard at work.

“Yeah, well, it hasn’t been easy.” Leah says, perhaps a little proudly. “I’ve spent hours, and gold, training my potions skills. I still can’t figure out this curse, though…” she trails off.

“Every couple of hours?” I pipe up.

“Yeah,” Leah says, matter-of-factly.

“What about, I don’t know, school? Life?”

“I’m sure you can figure something out, Si.”

It’s Lyle’s turn to pipe up. “I can handle the shifts you’re busy, Simon, as long as I can still keep an eye on the inn.”

I nod at him gratefully, before turning to Blue. He’s still out cold.

“D’you think…” I begin.

“He’ll be okay,” Leah assures me pointedly, but I’m not sure that she’s so sure of that fact.

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

—————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dude idk if I'm going to be keeping up with this or start another project, but let me know if you want more!


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